


B D 

Bc3 




Class UMS2 3 

Book , 

Copyright N° 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



WHO? WHENCE? 
WHERE? 

A PHILOSOPHICAL ESSAY 

BY 
PEDRO BATISTA, M.D. 




BROADWAY PUBLISHING CO. 

835 Broadway, New York 



^v 



Copyright, 1911, 
BY 

PEDRO BATISTA, M.D. 



k 



i 1 



©CI.A2U7792 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

I. The Causeless Cause 7 

II. The Causeless Cause — Nature . . 12 

III. The Life-giving Principle .... 13 

IV. The Need of Diversified Structure 

for the Functions of Life ... 18 

V. The Similarity of Life 20 

VI. Matter and Force 22 

VII. The Spirit 26 

VIII. The Spirit Location 32 

IX. The Evolution of the Spirit ... 34 

X. Matter, Force, Life, and Spirit . . 37 

XL Nothing is Lost, Nothing is Added . 40 

XII. Time and Eternity 44 

XIII. The Space 46 

XIV. The Creation of the Universe was 

Necessary 48 

XV. The Universe is Evolutive .... 50 

XVI. The Object of Man on the Earth . . 51 

XVII. To Be and Not to Be 53 

XVIII. Deductions of the Precedent Chap- 
ters 55 

XIX. Resume 60 

XX. Some Points of Controversy ... 60 



TO THE READER. 

The purpose of this booklet is to show that the 
three-fold manifestation of energies, matter, life 
and spirit act harmoniously together in the making 
up of the human personality, and that they never 
work asunder, as matter in any form is the me- 
dium of the manifestation of the other two. In a 
like manner the Infinite is expressed by a three-fold 
manifestation, viz.: matter, evolution, and mind; 
and as there is no opposition but apposition between 
the former, so it is with three- fold manifestation of 
the Infinite. Three and one. 

From nothing, nothing is created. 

This philosophical essay is written on the theory 
that the substance or material substratum in which 
the visible phenomena are manifested is uncreated; 
on the contrary, the theory falls by its base. 



Who? Whence? Where? 



CHAPTER I. 



THE CAUSELESS CAUSE. 



The uncreated, eternal mindful ordering energy 
of all existing things is called God. Everything is 
the theatre of his operations. If there were some- 
thing out of his control He would not be then the 
ordering energy of all existing things, and would 
not be in everything ; consequently He would not be 
infinite. That there is such eternal, infinite and 
mindful ordering energy is absolutely proved by the 
every-day manifestation of His creations. 

The universal gravitation of the stars running in 
their mathematical course without blunder; the di- 
versified organs of plants and animals, though dif- 
ferent in structure, harmoniously combined to keep 
on not only their life and propagation, but to give 
expression to arts and science, cannot be the result 
of a blind energy. 

Nature as a mirror reflects God, and we have no 
other means of thinking and knowing of this infinite 
essence than those offered to us by the study of na- 
ture's laws. 



Wlhoi Wibtntti fflhttti 



This study carries us to a single conclusion, and 
this one is the existence of a supreme ruling power, 
"God." To attribute to matter and force alone, or 
the unmindful energies, the wonders of this uni- 
verse, would be like to attribute the works of 
Shakespeare to a mere accidental aggregation of 
letters and words without any conceptive mind. 

The wonders, harmony and order of this universe 
cannot be the result of mere casualty. Ask of a 
casuist which was prior, the tgg or the hen? If he 
answers the hen, this presupposes the rooster and 
a design; if he says the Qgg, he has to resort to a 
series of changes or evolutions without excluding 
some primary phenomenon to commence with; if 
this primary phenomenon is due to a casualty, all 
the phenomena depending on it must be due to a 
casualty; but nature teaches us that created things 
are subjected to invariable laws, then this primary 
phenomenon is not due to a casualty, but to a design. 

To deny this design and affirm that casualty was 
the cause of this primary phenomenon, is the same as 
to affirm that plants could exist before water, ani- 
mals before plants, carnivora before herbivora, that 
death was prior to life. A chain of phenomena 
adapted to some end in view cannot be the result of 
a mere casualty, as this cannot produce a chain of 
well-established facts. 

The universe is a real, permanent and well-estab- 
lished fact, its laws invariable, and cannot reflect an 
accident as its mere cause, but an immutable and 
eternal designer. 

Life changes inorganic matter into an organic 
8 



Wfotsi mbtntti Wihttti 



and living matter, and death turns the organic into 
inorganic; we are unable to account for these phe- 
nomena without having a design or intelligence in 
a creator. To attribute to an accident the alterna- 
tion of these two phenomena, life and death without 
a design, it is to take for its cause a mere phe- 
nomenon; if an accident has given to matter the 
power to organize itself, another accident was 
necessary to destroy that power. 

The power of matter to organize itself is tem- 
porary and limited to definite forms, and we ob- 
serve here two laws, one that limits the organiza- 
tion of matter to definite forms, and other that 
limits the lifetime of their organization; if there 
were not a law inhibited in matter to control this 
mechanism of self -limitation, then it would happen 
by a mechanism of accidents. Nothing in human 
industry is due to a mechanism of accidents, then it 
would be left for nature, the most wonderful indus- 
trial w r ork ever existing to be due to a mechanism 
of accidents. 

We may illustrate the former reasoning by means 
of an egg. This is composed of two substances — 
the white and the yolk, the former is to form the 
chicken, the latter is a provision for his nutrition; 
and here is a design : the white is to be divided into 
several structures of different shapes and functions 
working altogether with one end in view : life, form, 
and a distinction in sexual organs for the perpetua- 
tion of the species. If we exclude a design for the 
explanation of these two phenomena, then we have 
to recur to a series of accidents without any end in 

9 



mboi Ifflbentei Wibttti 



view subjected to invariable laws, which seems ab- 
surd, since accident is not invariable. 

If the human mind refuses to admit a primary 
ruling power, it finds itself as a traveler in a road 
without end; and as nothing definite can be done 
without an end in view, we shall have no plausible 
theory to explain this wonderful universe. 

Take arithmetic, and unit is the foundation of 
the mathematical science as the point is that of 
geometry; both the unit and point are conventional. 
Nothing in the world is an absolute unity, every- 
thing is an aggregation of unities. All bodies are 
composed of molecules, these of atoms, and the 
atom is theoretical, conventional, and to explain the 
harmonious phenomena and laws of this universe, 
we need a conventional unity, not the unconscious 
atoms, because they are unlimited, but the conscious 
God. • 

The universe is an aggregation of unities sub- 
jected to laws, and we cannot have as a God the one 
that is subjected to laws, but the one that subjects 
everything to laws. 

Matter is the subordinate energy, and mind the 
ruling one, and both are not in opposition, but in 
perfect harmony as mind and body in man are in 
agreeable consort. Matter is something upon which 
the mind works and has control; mind is wisdom, 
will and power, and the wisdom, will and power of 
God can work and control the uncreated matter. 

Matter is immutable in itself, though its manifes- 
tations are innumerable, and the supreme ruling 

10 



mboi mttnui muiti 



power is immutable, too, in Himself, though His 
designs are in eternal action. 

A blind energy may explain a mere phenomenon, 
but a series of them bound to accomplish an end 
in view cannot be the result of a mere accident, but 
absolutely the effect of an ordering mind. 



ii 



mw Wfotnizi Wtottti 



CHAPTER II. 

THE CAUSELESS CAUSE — NATURE. 

The nature of the eternal and mindful ordering 
energy is psychical. We cannot form any idea of 
the nature of a psychical entity, though its acts are 
realized in a material medium, as the human mind 
in the brain. 

The designs of God are realized in the universe 
as a medium of His manifestation, and if we are 
not, through our lack of knowledge, able to under- 
stand His psychical essence, we may, by the study 
of nature's laws, grasp some of His designs. One 
of the essential attributes is His will, and as every- 
thing in the nature of God is eternal and immuta- 
ble, His will is immutable. The will of God is not 
a simple caprice, a changeable determination, but 
the immutable identification of His wisdom, power 
and design. We cannot get any knowledge of Him 
by the study of His own nature, because it is be- 
yond our conception, but by the study of nature's 
laws we can learn some of His wisdom, power and 
design, and as we do not see any distinction between 
Him and His attributes, we say, to know His at- 
tributes is to know Him. 

12 



Wiboi Wfozntti Wfozxti 



CHAPTER III. 

THE LIFE-GIVING PRINCIPLE. 

Our life, as our bodies, are not absolutely ours, 
they depend for their actual existence upon laws to 
which they are completely subordinate. We do not 
live as long as we wish, but as long as we are al- 
lowed to live. The body's form disappears after 
death, but every particle, every atom of its com- 
ponents parts is indestructible. Neither is the force 
that animates the body annihilated. What we ob- 
serve in our daily experience is the mutation that 
is constantly going on in all force and matter mani- 
festation, but the force and matter itself are in- 
destructible. If we take a piece of wood and burn 
it, the change of form and new chemical com- 
pounds that takes place with the exhibition of light 
and heat is a mere manifestation of forces that are 
set free, in contradistinction of the same forces be- 
fore the piece of wood was burned, being named 
"latent force/' The equilibrium of the forces has 
been broken, and the atomistic arrangement 
changed, but nothing is annihilated of what is sub- 
stantial or cause ; the whole matter and force of the 
piece of wood is unchangeable in itself, and will 

13 



mhoi mbmtt! mbtiti 



forever exist in nature. One thing is perishable in 
the burning- piece of wood, and that is the momen- 
tary manifestation of light and heat, but the causes 
of these manifestations are as eternal as nature 
itself. 

The theory that the vibrations of the atoms are 
transmitted through a subtle medium called ether, 
is the most acceptable. Any break in the equilib- 
rium of the body's molecules finds expression in 
some of those agents called heat, light, magnetism, 
gravity, attraction, etc. 

The life-giving principle pervades all organic 
matter, and wherever its surroundings are adequate 
for its development and propagation the phenomena 
of life are manifested. The essential difference be- 
tween the bodies endowed with life and those that 
lack this principle is that the former grow by inside 
affinity through the phenomena of osmosis, and the 
latter by the aggregation of new molecules outside 
of its surface. The organic bodies only propagate 
themselves by parent cells. The appearance of the 
first cell or cells on the surface of the planet was 
congruent with some of the geological periods of 
the earth. 

Life did not appear until the earth was ready for 
it. 

Life has no end in its manifestations, and the 
medium of its operation are matter and force. The 
lesser forms with which life manifests itself is to 
subserve the higher forms of it. The vegetable 
kingdom is the great laboratory where the simple 
elements are combined and turned into organic mat- 

H 



mbo! mbtntti mum 



ter to give life to the zoological kingdom. Life is 
the foundation of a series of phenomena that other- 
wise could not be manifested, but in the organic 
matter. 

The fundamental property with which it is en- 
dowed is the irritability. We observe this irrita- 
bility to the action of light, heat, dampness, air, 
etc., in the seed developing at their influence. The 
vital principle is latent in the seed, and the above 
surrounding influences awaken it to action. Some 
plants show this irritability in another form, viz. : 
by the folding of the leaves at the contact of the 
hand, exhibiting at the same time a contractile 
power, which phenomena in the lower forms of life 
is called sensation, because we suppose they have 
felt the contact. To the irritability and contrac- 
tility follows the impressionability, which faculties 
need the presence of special senses, and these are the 
ones that place the living being in relation with its 
surroundings and the subtle forces of nature. The 
sense of touch, the most universal sense in the liv- 
ing being, tells it of the presence of any body other 
than itself. As there is no leap in the phenomena 
of nature, that sense does the transition from some 
plants to the animal. The muscular sense, by which 
an animal is conscious of its bodily activity is com- 
mon to all of them. The sense of temperature also. 
The sense of smell, hearing and sight are impressed 
by more subtle forces, as odoriferous gases, sound 
waves and light. The external senses are connected 
by means of nerves with the brain, where the or- 
gans of perception of the external impressions are 

J 5 



mboi mbtntti mbtui 



located and converted into images, ideas, concep- 
tions, volitions, etc. The lower animals, endowed 
only with a system of ganglionic nerves, are exclu- 
sively ruled by instincts. No leap either in the 
evolution of the nervous system, which structure is 
developed by a natural scale from the ganglionic 
form to the spinal, and then to the cerebral with 
their adapted functions. The association or disso- 
ciation of ideas with its desires provoked by the ex- 
ternal impressions in a large or small degree is 
what makes the intellectual difference in the zoolog- 
ical kingdom. Life had to provide animals with a 
nervous system for the manifestation of mental 
phenomena. The life that provides a plant with 
a nutritive power, growth and form is the same life- 
giving principle that provides an animal with or- 
gans of relation and mental manifestations, as that 
of perception, ideas, memory, hate, love, etc. What 
varies is not the principle, but its instrumentality. 
These last manifestation of life is called Soul. Life 
in a tree has the roots to absorb from the earth 
the mineral elements, the leaves to absorb the car- 
bon during the day and exhale the oxygen, and vice 
versa during the night, the branches to carry the 
flowers and fruits, and all these different functions 
belong to the same life principle. In the animal there 
is a finer structure, "the nervous system," through 
which life shows its intellect. This last faculty is 
to the animal what blooming is to the plant, an- 
other higher manifestation of life shown by a new 
structure. 

That this principle does not manifest itself out 
16 



Wiboi Wibtntti Wbzu 



of the living bodies is not a proof against its ex- 
istence, as it is not a proof against the atomistic 
vibration that heat, light, electricity and magnetism 
do not manifest themselves separated from the 
bodies, but always start from them. To the life- 
giving principle is due then the animation of matter. 



17 



GO&o? mbtntt? mbttti 



CHAPTER IV. 

THE NEED OF DIVERSIFIED STRUCTURE FOR THE 
FUNCTIONS OF LIFE. 

That all manifestations of life cannot be expressed 
by a single structure is proved by the histological 
formation of the organs. The cell is the foundation 
of all them, and adopts the form, appropriates the 
materials and builds the tissues according to the 
functions assigned to it. The bone cell is to build 
hard tissues for the holding of muscles and the mus- 
cular cell contractil tissue to move hollow organs 
and bones. The cell of the visceras is endowed with 
a special secretive and excretive function that helps 
the work of general nutrition of the body. The fat 
cell to round the form, and as a provision for the 
nutriment of the tissues. 

In the cerebro-spinal system, though apparently 
similar in structure, each part has its peculiar cell 
and function, and the loss of one is not substituted 
by the other. The hearing nerve cannot substitute 
the optic nerve, nor this one the olfactory nerve, 
and so on. 

It is seen that the functions of life are not only 
to animate the organic matter, but to produce or- 

18 



Wiboi MJfience? Wibttt? 



gans with especial faculties for the conservation 
and perpetuation of it, and its relations with the 
subtle forces of nature. Life alone, with its varia- 
tions in form and structure, is sufficient to explain 
all the physical organic and mental phenomena of 
animal life. The forms and organs of life supervene 
with the medium of its development. The fish is 
provided with gills for its respiration, and fins for 
locomotion; birds with feathers to fly; mammalia 
with feet to walk. In the struggle for life, those 
that adapt themselves better to the medium in which 
they live have a chance to survive other species. 
Life works here indirectly for the supremacy of its 
best forms. 



19 



mboi mhmtti mbzxz? 



CHAPTER V. 

THE SIMILARITY OF LIFE. 

Man has a life in its fundamental operations com- 
mon with all living organizations, from the monera 
to the quadruman. The main function of all living 
beings is the osmosis, which belongs to both the 
vegetable and animal kingdom. In the organic mat- 
ter the chemical elements are combined in ternary 
and quaternary groups. (The chemical inorganic 
affinities only combine two or three chemical ele- 
ments.) Under the vital principle four or more 
chemical elements may be combined and produce 
compound radicals. Only life is endowed with 
such property: the growth of minerals is unlimited, 
the organized bodies are self-limited. There is for 
this differentiation an absolute different agent, the 
vital principle "Life." This is divided into two 
great functions, viz. : the vegetative and animal 
functions, which are correlative, the former under- 
takes the growth, form and reproduction of the be- 
ing, the latter, motion, sensation and intelligence. 

From the seed the vegetative life is awakened by 
moisture, soil, light and heat, and the plant is de- 
veloped with its flowers and fruits. As the transi- 

20 



UMbo? mbtntti mbttti 



tion from plant to animal life is not abrupt, as it is 
observed in the sensitive plant, whose leaves, pos- 
sessing retractility and motion, fold when its 
branches are touched. The lower forms of ani- 
mals, such as worms, have only retractility, motion 
and sensation. The senses in the zoological scale 
develop gradually from the sense of touch to the 
highest form of them, "the sight." The nervous 
system develops gradually, too, there is no leap in 
the evolution from the simple nervous ganglion to 
the human brain. No one doubts the similarity of 
the nutritive functions between animal and man, the 
digestion, circulation, respiration and calorification 
to keep on and reproduce the tissues are similar; 
the digestive canal develops from a simple tube to 
the complicated apparatus of man. The mental 
faculties develop gradually, too,, in the zoological 
scale, and it is a less difficult matter to differentiate 
from the physical character to the hand, between the 
quadruman and man, than intellectually between 
the highest family of monkeys, bushmen and other 
savages. There is no jump in nature, but the grad- 
ual evolution of every energy. 



at 



mboi mbtntti mutt? 



CHAPTER VI. 

MATTER AND FORCE. 

In the real world we know only bodies, which 
manifest to us in three different forms, solid, liquid 
and gaseous, and they act on our senses, creating 
as many ideas as are the impressions conveyed to 
the brain and perceived by it. Nothing called mat- 
ter is revealed to our senses. Matter is a subjective 
idea, an abstract noun, derived from the analytic 
faculties of the mind, but in the physical nature it- 
self this subjective noun has not any objective rep- 
resentation. If we abstract mentally from the 
bodies the properties through which they act upon 
our senses, nothing is left to our conscious mind to 
perceive, but a conception, viz. : the abstract noun 
matter, which we suppose is the substratum in 
which all physical, vital and psychical energy is 
manifested. All its properties are only manifesta- 
tion of those energies. No force is manifested out 
of matter, but in matter. Deep, wide, long, small, 
hard, soft, smooth, rough, etc., are qualities without 
any meaning out of the bodies. All these properties 
are the way in which matter is manifested to the 
mind. The color of the bodies depends on the light 

22 



Wiboi Wbmtt} Wfozui 



reflected by them. All the said properties are what 
makes matter appear as bodies. 

Some chemists think that the specific heat of the 
bodies constitutes their differences. 

The agent that produces motion is called force. 
Gravity, electricity, magnetism, heat, light, affinity, 
cohesion, are the most common manifestations of 
the matter force. They are the results of the vi- 
brations of the matter atoms. Their number and 
rapidity give place to its different effects. There is 
no matter without force, as it is the centre of it. 
Any disturbance in the atomistic arrangement of a 
body is always accomplished with a production or 
change of force, which is subjected to invariable 
laws. From the substance starts all energy and in 
it, too, they end. It is not recognizable by the 
senses, but recognized only by the superior faculties 
of the mind, viz. : an analysis and synthesis. Matter 
acts on our senses in the bodily form, through the 
agency of its forces. The different action in its 
operation depends on the state of its atomistic vi- 
bration. Any change in the atom is followed by 
some on the energy of the body. If a piece of iron 
is heated, it expands first and melts after, cold causes 
its contraction and makes it more dense, and the 
lowest degree of cold brittles it. Water changes 
from the liquid to the vapor state as it is heated 
and frozen hard by cold. Any chemical change in 
the body starts in motion its energy, and when it is 
in a state of repose is called latent force, and when 
in motion, free force. In the former case it is in 
a state of equilibrium, in the latter that state is 

23 



Wiboi Wihtncti mutt? 



broken. The forces interchange; electricity into 
light and heat, these again into electricity; mag- 
netism is a form of electricity, the different mani- 
festations being correlative. The electro-chemical 
theory supposes the atom surrounded by an elec- 
trical atmosphere and all change in the polarization 
of it gives place to a chemical decomposition or 
composition of the body, setting free some form of 
energy, or accumulating it in the new body. No 
energy is lost. The heat of the sun is accumulated 
by the growing seed into the trunk and branches of 
the tree, which subsequently serves to heat our 
rooms during the fall. The ether, that theoretical 
fluid that pervades all nature, is the medium of 
transmission of the vibration of the atom by its 
waves, which according to their size and number are 
exhibited as heat, light, magnetism, etc. This theory 
proves that the body's matter is a centre of forces, 
and that the body's change and motion is due to the 
undi visible nature of both, matter and force, and 
the one cannot act without the other ; in other words, 
"the bodily existence is due to the vibrating sub- 
stance." As the senses cannot perceive the sub- 
stance itself, the only thing perceived by them is the 
state of vibration, or what is called properties. 
When the waves of ether affects the eyes, and im- 
presses the optic nerve, it is called "light" ; the air 
waves when perceived by the acoustic nerve 
"sound" ; when the waves of either impress the sen- 
sitive nerves of the skin, causing a warm sensation, 
"heat" ; the tact and muscles perceive the adhesion 
of the body's atoms by their resistance to roll upon 

24 



Wibo} mhtntti Wbttz? 



themselves. With the above explanation it is clearly 
seen that the only thing shown to the senses is en- 
ergy, the substance itself being left to the meta- 
physical conception of the mind. In a word, the 
direct relation of the senses is with the energies. 



*5 



UMboi mbtntti Wibtiti 



CHAPTER VII. 

THE SPIRIT. 

The spirit is the ruling essence embodied by the 
human flesh through the vital principle. Its instru- 
mentality is the reasoning act, which is attended by 
the following faculties: i. Analysis. 2. Synthesis. 
3. Induction. 4. Deduction, with its conclusions and 
consequences, assisted by axiom and corrolary. 5. 
Reflection, with its modality, conscience. 

The analysis is the tracing of things to their 
source and the resolving of knowledge into its orig- 
inal principle. 

Synthesis, composition, or that process of reason- 
ing in which we advance by a regular chain from 
principles before established or assumed and propo- 
sitions already proved till we arrive at the conclu- 
sion. 

Induction, a kind of argument which infers re- 
specting a whole class what has been ascertained re- 
specting one or more individuals of that class. It is 
the direct reverse of logical deduction. It ascends 
from the part to the whole, and forms the general 
analogy of nature or special presumptions in the 
case, conclusions which have greater or less degree 

26 



Wtoo! Wfotntzi Wfotiti 



of force, and which may be strengthened, or weak- 
ened by subsequent experience. It relates to actual 
existence, as in physical science or the concerns of 
life. 

Deduction descends from the whole to some in- 
cluded part ; its inferences are necessary conclusions 
according to the laws of thought, being merely the 
recognition of some particular, as included or con- 
tained in something general. The inference of some 
general truth from all the particulars embraced un- 
der it, as legitimated by the laws of thought and ab- 
stracted from the conditions of any particular mat- 
ter. This may be called metaphysical induction, and 
should be carefully distinguished from the illations 
of physics spoken of above. The conclusion or in- 
ference drawn from a process of induction. 

Reflection, the operation of mind by which it 
turns its views back upon itself and its operations, 
the review or reconsideration of past thoughts, opin- 
ion or decisions of the mind, or past events. 

Conscience is a modality of the reflection, the gen- 
eral principle of moral approbation or disapproba- 
tion applied to one's own conduct and affections and 
our notions of right or wrong are not to be de- 
duced from a single principle or faculty, but from 
various powers of the understanding and will. 

Axiom, a self-evident truth or a proposition 
whose truth is as evident at first sight that no 
process of reasoning or demonstration can make it 
plainer, as the whole is greater than a part. 

Consequent, that which follows from proposi- 
tions by rational deduction, that which is deduced 

27 



mi)of Wibtntti Wfoztti 



from reasoning or argumentation: a conclusion or 
inference. 

Corollary, an inference from a preceding propo- 
sition, a consequent truth which follows imme- 
diately from some preceding truth or demonstra- 
tion. 

Among the most elaborated ideas of the mind are 
the abstract ideas, which without preexistence in 
the spirit could not be awakened by any process of 
the vital principle. 

The causeless cause conception with its attributes, 
viz. : uncreated, infinite, eternal, immutable, is pre- 
existing in the spirit. The divinity idea is the re- 
sult of all these abstract conceptions striking at 
once at the contemplating spirit. Nothing else than 
a ruling essence can possess metaphysical conceits — 
like produces like. By induction the mind faculties 
pass from the known to the unknown, from the 
visible to the invisible, from the particular to the 
general, and from the objective to the subjective 
ideas. The idea of God preexists in the spirit, and 
is awakened by the mind faculties. Everything in 
contact with the senses is finite, limited, and the 
conclusions drawn by them cannot awake the idea 
of God were He not preexisting in the spirit. The 
boundaries of the animal soul are the limited, finite 
and objective ideas. The boundaries of the spirit 
are the abstract and the causeless cause ideas. 

Another definition of the spirit would be: "The 
essence that conceives the infinite." This infinite 
conceit is not an atom, or a molecule, or a force 
phenomena which are manifested by weight and 

28 



au&o? mbmtt? mbm? 



motion. It is only the unique light of the Divine 
essence reflected on the spirit, the only one pre- 
existing in Him. The abstract ideas which do not 
include the conceit of the infinite, as the idea of 
order, beauty, justice, virtue, harmony, etc., are the 
result of the high faculties upon those of the animal 
soul. Those abstract ideas to be created need the 
linking chain of the spirit with the outer world 
through the vital principle or animal soul. The 
communion of the spirit with the human brain is 
through the vital principle, and the creation of the 
ideas of second order is through the exercise of the 
highest faculties on the faculties of the soul, by 
which the spirit is brought in contact with the 
physical bodies. The analysis of the regular dispo- 
sition or methodical arrangement of things creates 
the idea of order. The one of beauty by an assem- 
blage of graces or properties in the form of the per- 
son or any other object which pleases the eye, other 
senses or the understanding. That of justice by the 
virtue which consists in giving to every one what is 
due. The idea of virtue by moral goodness or the 
practice of moral duties and the abstaining from 
vices, or a conformity of life or conversation to the 
moral laws. The one of harmony by the just adap- 
tation of parts to each other in any system or com- 
position of things intended to form a connected 
whole. 

It is seen that the reflective power of mind work- 
ing on the objective ideas of the soul born from the 
direct relation through the senses with the world 
creates the abstract conceits possessed by the spirit. 

29 



aatjo? mbtntt? tai&ete? 



The animal soul is to the spirit what a window is 
to a room lighted by the sun. If the window is 
open and the sun's rays enter it, the eye can see 
every object in it; if the window is shut and the 
room thrown into darkness, the eye, though keep- 
ing the sight, sees nothing. The senses' centres 
in the brain are the storehouse of objective 
ideas, the soul the window, the high faculties the 
light, and the seer the spirit. 

With the vital principle departing from the body, 
all connection of the spirit with the outer world is 
broken, and as the animation of the vital principle 
relates immediately with the brain matter and its 
physiological functions, all interference with the 
brain substance and its functions interfere with its 
vitality, and the alteration of its vitality and func- 
tions interfere with the carnal influence of the spirit. 

The living brain is the instrument of the soul, its 
physiological function is in direct relation with 
the mind faculties, and the soundness of these fac- 
ulties with the normal operation of the spirit. 

The sleep is a state of brain's functions in which 
mind is in abeyance. Dream is the awakening of 
one or several centers of the brain with their corre- 
sponding outer sense in repose. 

Man reaches with manhood that high light of per- 
fect conscience, in which the relation of the spirit 
with the inner and outer world is most complete. 
In the embryo, life is almost vegetative ; in the in- 
fant it is animal. The idea or knowledge of the 
spirit comes with the approach of the full maturity 
of the reasoning act. The spirit is known concep- 

30 



mbo? mbtntt? mbttt? 



tively to himself when the highest power of mind 
faculties unfold it. Life is transmissible, but not 
the spirit. Life, like fire, though exhausted in a 
body, is communicable to others. The spirit only 
takes possession of the body through the medium 
of life, and is manifested through the high facul- 
ties of reasoning. 



31 



Wiboi Wibmtt? Wbttt? 



CHAPTER VIII. 

THE SPIRIT LOCATION. 

The spirit being somewhere in the body, and its 
relations wholly confined to the animal soul, it 
necessarily must be located where the functions of 
the animal soul are exercised. The external senses 
are in direct relation with the outer world and in 
communication with the inner senses of the brain 
where perception is realized. The perceptive or- 
gans of the brain are the seat of the objective ideas, 
or pictured ideas; and the circumvolutions on the 
brain the seat of them and of the will. As the rela- 
tion of the spirit is with the animal soul and the 
brain the centre of the impulses, emotions and pic- 
tured ideas, it follows necessarily that the place for 
the spirit to rule and guide is where its influence 
may be felt, and its influence is felt in the cerebral 
circumvolutions. 

The brain is like a central phonographic station, 
from where every wire starts, and in which all 
wires end ; to which all news is sent, and from which 
all orders depart. Through the motor nerves goes 
all command of the will or desire ; through the sen- 
sitive and special nerves go all external impressions 

32 



JKHfto? Wfotntti Wbtit? 



to the brain's centres where they are perceived, and 
as the perception is made the desire reacts, accepting 
or repelling the perception as it is favorable or 
detrimental to the preservation or perpetuation of 
life. The brain being the centre of perception of 
the animal impressions, it is there where the ob- 
jective ideas take place. 

The spirit, that high and noble essence, has for 
his object to preside upon the faculties of the ani- 
mal soul, ruling and controlling them, and neces- 
sarily must have his seat where its controlling in- 
fluence can be felt, and as this controlling influence 
resides in the circumvolutions of the brain, then 
these organs must be the seat of the spirit in the 
body. 



33 



Wiboi Wlbtntti Wbttz} 



CHAPTER IX. 

THE EVOLUTION OF THE SPIRIT. 

The evolution of the spirit follows that of the 
mind, and this one that of the brain, and the brain 
that of the senses. 

From the lowest to the highest form of life the 
relation of the brain with the outer world is estab- 
lished through the senses, and the scale of rela- 
tion is more broad as the number of them increases. 
The association of two or more ideas perceived by 
the brain give place to judgment and the animal is 
guided by it. 

The animal intellect has for its field the concrete 
or objective ideas produced by the sensations and 
impressions of the external senses — the spirit 
through the high faculties has for its field the ab- 
stract ideas elaborated from the correlation of the 
centres of the perception, conception and judgment, 
and these abstract ideas go to constitute the store- 
house of the psychical mind. 

Science is the result of these intellectual opera- 
tions applied to a certain order of phenomena. The 
accumulation through centuries of scientific knowl- 
edge acquired by observation, experience and inves- 

34 



WLboi Wfotntti Wfotni 



tigation, and that actually added, makes the vast- 
ness of abstract ideas for the spirit's choice, and 
determines the line of its progress. The objective 
lesson comes from the outer world and perception, 
and the subjective knowledge from the operation of 
the high faculties on those of perception. The cor- 
rectness of the latter is the fundamental base of 
exact knowledge. The knowledge called science has 
been accumulated by the higher specimens of man- 
kind, and it is not the result of a single individual, 
but of thousands. Science had a beginning, and its 
progress has followed the entire course of evolution 
of the inner senses with the outer world through 
the external senses. The evolution of the faculties 
follows that of the brain. 

To civilized man there are thousands of things of 
artistic and industrial work that strike his mind and 
make him think, indirectly developing his mind. 
The development of the brain and its functions fol- 
lows their exercise, and the spirit in its evolution 
follows them in their course. 

The antropological science shoAvs the above state- 
ment clearly. In the collections of skulls in some 
national museums, if some one were to try to point 
out in a classified row of human skulls since the 
post-glacial era of the earth to the present time 
where the man's skull ends and that of the animal 
begins, none except an expert naturalist could point 
out the limit. This is because there was no leap in 
the scale, and the evolution of the facial angle be- 
tween the past and present human races was very 
gradually done. It cannot be denied that the pro- 

35 



UMboi Wibtntti Were? 



gressiveness of science and the plane of the spirit's 
progress in the different races is in accordance with 
the brain's development. The more numerical are 
its circumvolutions the higher the power revealed 
by the spirit. 



36 



Wboi Wibtncti Wfotui 



CHAPTER X. 

MATTER, FORCE, LIFE, AND SPIRIT. 

In the real world, the only one known to man, 
nothing exists as matter, only as bodies, which act- 
ing upon our senses create as many ideas as are the 
impressions conveyed to the brain and perceived 
by it. What is called matter is the result of the ana- 
lytic faculties of the mind, a subjective idea, but in 
nature itself this idea has not any real representa- 
tion. If the body's energy is mentally separated 
from them, nothing is left but a conception. 

Matter acts upon our senses not by itself, but 
through its energies, the only one that impresses 
them. There is no matter without energy, or what 
is called attributes, which is nothing else but the 
manner in which they affect our senses. 

No such thing as color existing as an independent 
entity, but only colored bodies, being the purpose of 
the abstract noun "color" to simplify the language. 

It is proved by the above reasoning that matter 
and force are correlative ideas, and we are only 
cognizant of the impressions made upon our senses 
by the material body through its energy, but are ab- 
solutely ignorant of matter itself as centre of en- 
ergies. 

37 



ffil&o? mbtntzl mbmi 



Life is a kind of energy with which all living or- 
ganized bodies are endowed. This energy is not 
common to every combination of chemical elements, 
but only peculiar to the combination of some of the 
chemical elements recognized by the inorganic chem- 
istry, and they are sixteen in number. The rest are 
not susceptible of organization, and consequently of 
vitalization. That property is what makes life en- 
ergy very distinct from all other energy. Life en- 
dows matter with self -limited organization, impres- 
sionability, impulse, instincts, sensation, emotion, 
memory and objective and associated ideas with 
judgment based on them. Life, like fire, is transmis- 
sible, pervades all the planet, and is always impell- 
ing the organizable elements to take living forms. 

The spirit is an entity whose energies are mani- 
fested by the ruling of the animal soul, and as all 
other energy does not disclose itself out of the or- 
ganized living body, of which the highest type is 
the human species. It needs matter under some form 
of organization to manifest itself. The wonderful 
elaborated structure of the living organism is to 
serve their minds, and to affirm that their minds can 
act separate from their bodies is like affirming that 
matter can act separate of its energy, viz. : a car- 
penter cannot make a piece of furniture from a log 
without tools, but with tools he can do it. Such is 
the case with matter, life and spirit, and conse- 
quently they are correlative. 

There are in nature three entities playing the 
totality of its phenomena, viz. : the vibrating mat- 

38 



Wiboi Wfozntzi mutt? 



ter, or matter and force, the life-giving principle, 
and the ruling energy or spirit. 

The ether conveys the atomistic vibrations of the 
bodies as the air waves the sound. Dust is the 
plastic substance that is organized and informed by 
the life-giving principle. The spirit rules and con- 
trols the animal passions and instincts in contradis- 
tinction of the animal soul that follows and obeys 
them. Each of these energies subserves the other ; 
matter and force subserves life and life the spirit. 
No one of them has a meaning without the other. 
Matter has no meaning without force, matter and 
force without life, and life without spirit. The ex- 
isting energies combine to form a grand total, and 
they move eternally in harmony. 



39 



Wito! Wbmcti Wbttti 



CHAPTER XL 

NOTHING IS LOST, NOTHING IS ADDED. 

That nothing is lost in nature means that every- 
thing since the formation of this planet is still in 
it ; nothing has disappeared, nothing has been added, 
and what is said of the atoms is also said of the 
energies. 

Chemistry has solved the problem, that the sim- 
ple elements of matter when they enter into the com- 
position of a body, the same quantity and quality is 
to be found after the decomposition of the body; 
e. g., water, the composition of it is H2O, as proved 
by analysis and synthesis. The analysis separates the 
elements that enter into the water composition, hy- 
drogen, two volumes, and oxygen, one, and the 
synthesis combines and reproduces them. In this 
way, it is seen that two volumes of hydrogen and 
one of oxygen make water. That chemical truth 
shows that the materials that have entered into the 
composition and formation of the vegetable and 
animal kingdom at the beginning of organized mat- 
ter are the same materials that enter to-day into 
their composition. 

It is known by our daily experience that a new- 
40 



ffiafto? mbtntti QMbm? 



born child weighs about nine pounds, and when 
he reaches the adult age weighs from one hundred 
and fifty to two hundred pounds, which increase in 
weight is represented by the assimilated vegetable 
and animal food during his growth. The organic 
substance forming the human body decays after 
death, turning back into its primary chemical ele- 
ments, which when dispersed in the soil and air are 
taken up by the plants endowed with new life to 
feed back again higher orders of life. 

The earth feeds the plants and the plants the 
herbivora, the herbivora the carnivora, and these 
last again the earth. That constitutes the definite 
circle in which nothing is lost, nothing is added. 

It is seen that the materials which enter into the 
composition or structure of the present life's forms 
are those that formed the bodies of the past ones, 
and certainly will be the ones to form the future 
forms of life. 

Death alone does not cause these changes. It is 
kept on during the life of the organic bodies. They 
assimilate from the food all they need to convert it 
into motion and sustain life, and the residue is 
turned out into the soil to be used again. We see 
in this process the eternal work of the vital princi- 
ple, and the transitory life of matter. 

The heat of the sun raises the surface of the 
water of the ocean, rivers and brooks in the form 
of vapor; it forms clouds that fall in drops, called 
rains, these rains after flooding the rivers, lakes, 
brooks and feeding the plants run to the ocean, to be 
raised again on the same mission. The water that 

41 



Wiboi Wtotntti fflbttti 



a man drinks to-day was drunk by another one be- 
fore. It is always the same amount and runs the 
same circle. 

The energy that converts through the plants the 
inorganic chemical elements into a living organic 
substance is in proportion to the materials it is to be 
converted into, the demand for the creation of more 
not being necessary. It is known that light, heat, 
electricity, climate, soil, humidity, air, carbonic acid 
and ammonia are all, or in part, necessary environ- 
ment for the healthy growth of the plants, but we 
are in darkness about that intrinsic energy called 
life, that limits the growth, form, existence, qualities 
and properties of plans and animals. 

Certainly there is no more life energy in the 
planet to-day than there was at its beginning. Log- 
ically it must be supposed that the giving life princi- 
ple since the formation of this plant was the one 
needed for the conversion of its inorganic elements, 
that had to be converted into organic substance, 
otherwise the creation of this energy would be in 
daily demand. 

Our planet does not take from the sun more light 
and heat than that necessary for the preservation, 
growth and perpetuation of the living entities in it. 

As there is no more energy existing since the ap- 
pearance of the planet than that corresponding to its 
material subtractum, and no more life-giving prin- 
ciple than that needed for the materials to be con- 
verted into living organic substance, so there is no 
more ruling energy than that needed for the ma- 

42 



KSftof Wbtncti Wbtizi 



terial subtractum to be converted into living human 
brains. 

The belief that the spirit existed since the begin- 
ning of all things is more acceptable than that of 
their daily creation. 

All energy and substance existing to-day has ex- 
isted before, the change being only in the form and 
action, the moving circle being the law. Nothing is 
lost, nothing is added. 



43 



WibQi mbmtti Wtoztti 



CHAPTER XII. 

TIME AND ETERNITY. 

Time is the succession of phenomena shown by 
some moving agent, the agent itself being un- 
changeable. Matter has always been matter, and 
always will remain so, its nature eternal and has 
never had any beginning. Its condition of existence 
is motion and vibration, and both the cause of all 
physical phenomena, time being the marking differ- 
ence between them. If the earth were not round 
and revolving upon its axis and around the sun, it 
would not be a succession of days and nights, it 
would be always day or night, no seconds, no min- 
utes, no hours, no days, no weeks, no years, no 
time. Stop all motion, stop all vibration, in a word, 
all change and you will suppress all phenomena, 
you will suppress time, you will fully come into 
eternity by suppressing time, by suppressing activity 
of matter. Matter without motion is eternity; mov- 
ing matter is eternity in motion; then we are not 
out of eternity, but in a moving eternity. That is 
why we are in substance, in principle to-day, what 
we were yesterday and what we will be to-morrow. 
All the manifestations, all the coming and going of 

44 



who? mbtnui mm*? 



the phenomena are transient, but the essence itself, 
which gives cause to such phenomena is eternal, 
never annihilated, never disappearing-, always cre- 
ating and never created. Time into eternity. We 
are not to be afraid of our past, present and future 
as a constitutive entity of matter, life and spirit, 
they have been always matter, life and spirit, but 
not always in the same consort, and not always giv- 
ing off the same phenomena. 

Take, e. g., a human embryo. There is matter, 
life and spirit nucleus, in which matter grows not by 
creation, but by addition and development, life by 
action, and the spirit by manifestation. Everything 
as essence has been there from immemorial time, 
ever acting, ever giving off phenomena, but not in 
the way of that particular embryo. Matter is there 
to increase, life to develop, the spirit in a state of 
potentiality, in other words, the eternal bordering 
with the temporal, the ever-existing with the ever- 
changing, the eternal and the temporal — time and 
eternity. 



45 



Wibo} Wibzntt! Wlhtit? 



CHAPTER XIII. 

THE SPACE. 

Space is a phenomenon identical to time. It de- 
pends on matter for its existence. Without bodies 
there would not be space. Matter by its vibration 
and motion constitutes the bodies, which have di- 
mensions, and these and their relations are called 
space or distance. If there were not bodies with 
dimensions and relations between them, it would not 
be any estimation by our senses of those properties 
and consequently no idea of space. Our imagina- 
tion suppressing the bodies does not suppress some- 
thing belonging to them, to matter in action, viz. : 
its dimensions, without which would not be space. 
Space, like time, is a modality of matter. We can 
imagine an immense vacuum after mentally sup- 
pressing the universe, and the error of our imagina- 
tion would be similar as to imagine the existence of 
time after the suppression of all matter manifesta- 
tion. Without motion of matter there would be no 
time, without bodies there would be no space. Space 
is not independent of bodies, no object for it with- 
out matter. The known universe is full of matter. 
Fishes find space in the water, birds in the air, and 

4 6 



Wibo? Wfoznizi Wibttt? 



those spaces are bodies. Every existing substance 
bathes itself in the ether, and this is a subtle matter 
that fills the universe. As matter by its motion and 
vibration gives place to time, so by its formation of 
bodies gives place to dimensions and distances which 
are called space ; but it is wholly related to the ex- 
istence of matter, as time is. 



47 



Wiboi Wbtntti Wibtu! 



CHAPTER XIV. 

THE CREATION OF THE UNIVERSE WAS NECESSARY. 

The creation of the universe is not a mere whim, 
it obeys one of God's greatest attributes, and it is 
His creative power. That God could possess this 
wonderful attribute and not to exercise it, would be 
an equivalent to his nullification. His designing 
mind acting together with His creative power had 
necessarily to give forth the created universe in 
unison with the one designed. The exercise of his 
creative power is His glorification, and without this 
glorification He could not be known out of Himself 
or exteriorize Himself, and without this exteriori- 
zation it would have been impossible any glorifica- 
tion, and His existence would be as silent as eternity. 

The following illustration will serve our purpose : 
If Shakespeare had not put down in writing his 
thoughts he would have passed through life as any 
other man, but the production of his works has 
shown and revealed the extraordinary brains he 
possessed, that he was a genius, and that his works 
consequently stand as his glorification. If he had 
to be glorified and immortalized it was absolutely 
necessary for him to exteriorize the power of his 
genius. 

48 



tajfto? Wfointti Wfomi 



God had to be glorified and necessarily had to 
create. The creation of this universe is His glori- 
fication and consequently necessary. 



49 



Wlho? CQ&ettce? fflbm! 



CHAPITER XV. 

THE UNIVERSE IS EVOLUTIVE. 

A universe absolutely still would be a magical 
product without any meaning, a panorama lacking 
in perspective, a fcetus born in eternity, left in eter- 
nity and dead in eternity. Billions of years would 
not count a single second in a still universe. That 
sort of a universe would not account for any crea- 
tion. Evolution means motion, and motion life. 
A living universe is an evolutive one, in which time 
and space are the formulae of its existence. Time 
is the soul of evolution, is the appreciation of dif- 
ference between two phenomena, and space is the 
dimension and distance of these phenomena. To 
give to himself an account of his existence is to be 
evolutive, that is why the universe is evolutive. 



50 



Wfooi Wfoznizi Wfytxti 



CHAPTER XVI. 

THE OBJECT OF MAN ON THE EARTH. 

His object is to work his perfection and accom- 
plish what nature cannot do by itself. Nature has 
created the marble and the sculptor has made the 
.Venus of Medici. Man developing the arts, sci- 
ences, and industries will in time turn the planet 
from a rough wilderness into an Eden. The forces 
that have been against him shall be harnessed and 
made subservient. To the darkness of superstition 
will follow the light of self -conscience and the 
knowledge of the purpose of his existence. One 
man or one generation in the artistic building of 
the surface of this planet is no more than a drop 
of water in the ocean. The present race of man- 
kind possesses the knowledge and efforts of thou- 
sands of generations in the acquisition of all its ar- 
tistic and industrial works. A generation has the 
inheritance of what the preceding one has discov- 
ered, and the accumulation of knowledge through 
ages enlarges the intellectual power of the follow- 
ing ones. 

The man of the Stone Age compared with the 
Caucasian race of the twentieth century would be 

5* 



UMbo? ca&ence? Wfom? 



no more worthy than a beast of to-day were it not 
for the embryonary psychic light hidden in him. 

Man has been taught to look and long for his 
personal existence after death in spite of the daily 
experience of his dissolution.' 

The personal existence forever without any in- 
trinsic change in the composition of his clay and 
mind since birth to death, and after death is a 
biased hope of a poetic imagination, though 
dreamed, never realized. 

All fruitful discovery, all advancement made by 
man in art, science and industry is held in and kept 
in the body of his intellectual inheritance, but his 
personality disappears with his death, as the light- 
ning spark of the opposed electricity disappears 
with its neutralization. 

The clay that forms the mortal flesh of the to- 
day man will form the flesh of the to-morrow man, 
and the same mind that organized and directed that 
clay yesterday will be the same mind that will direct 
to-morrow. 

Man is an advance agent of God on earth. 
God has created the minerals, the plants and ani- 
mals, and man the locomotive and sewing machine. 
This planet is his inheritance, and to him belongs 
the duty to make it a hell or a paradise. Ignorance, 
superstition, corruption and sensualism turn it into 
a hell; wisdom, self-control, kindness and the Fa- 
therhood of God into a paradise. 



52 



Wfotsi Wfozntzi Wfomi 



CHAPTER XVII. 

TO BE AND NOT TO BE. 

I am, and I am not. Both propositions contain 
a relative truth. I am, it means that I distinguish 
consciously between myself and what is not myself, 
consequently I am something-. I am not is another 
relative truth. It means that I depend on some- 
thing else for my existence, or in a word, that I am 
a part of something else from which I depend for 
my being or existence, as an integral part of it. If 
it is admitted that the creation from nothing is an 
Utopia, the above propositions are self-evident. 

To accept the truth of the above propositions, it 
is to accept the sound principle that all substantial 
things existing to-day have preexisted, and only a 
change of form and manifestation is what is going 
on. I am not conscious by myself, because I would 
be conscious all the time, even through sleep, but 
in the latter state there is only the latent energy 
through w r hich I become conscious when awakened, 
consequently consciousness is not a state by itself, 
but it is the operation of some energy or combined 
energies in a special act. The action of these en- 
ergies is intermittent. Sleep and vigil being only 

53 



Uiboi Wbtntt? (Kl&ete? 



the effects on the mode in which the energies act. 
In sleep the conscious mind is slumbering, at the 
awakening it is found there, where it fell asleep. 
So we see that we are only an effect of energies that 
act in and through us, and our conscious existence 
is subjected to the laws of their manifestations. To 
be and not to be. 



54 



mboi mhtntt? mbm? 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

DEDUCTIONS OF THE PRECEDENT CHAPTERS. 

As we cannot go farther than the observation and 
analytical power of our minds let us go, we observe 
that in this nature of ours, of which we are a part, 
three energies play together in an undividable man- 
ner all the phenomena presented to us, viz. : the in- 
organic elements, the foundation of life ; the organic 
substance the result of life operation and the foun- 
dation of the psychical energy. 

It is absolutely necessary an entity provided with 
life to endow the inorganic matter with it and make 
it susceptible of reproducing itself, viz. : the plant, 
?a living entity, absorbs by the roots and leaves the 
inorganic elements from the soil and air not only 
to grow, but to serve to the growth of other higher 
manifestation of life. 

Life in the plant turns the inorganic matter into 
food and the animal builds its flesh with it, as it is 
impossible for it to take directly the elements of 
such food from the inorganic kingdom. In this 
flesh, though made from inorganic matter, life has 
worked such wonderful change upon it that there is 
no resemblance at all to its source. No one can 
find the elements iron, lime, etc., in the animal tis- 

55; 



mho? wfotnizi mhttti 



sues except by decomposition, or depriving them of 
life. When the vital principle departs from the or- 
ganic living substance, the chemical laws take 
charge of it and return it to its original primary 
elements. 

Life is wholly a distinct energy from that of 
heat, light, magnetism, affinity, cohesion, gravity, 
etc., and to it the organic living matter owes all the 
properties of which it is endowed, such as growth 
from inside and reproduction from its kind. 

The ordering energy, or spirit, plays also its ac- 
tivity in matter when this one by its high living 
structure, the brain, affords room for its mani- 
festation. 

The hypostatic union of the spirit with the living 
cerebral structure is a fact in nature though not 
perceived by the intellect, notwithstanding that 
man is a fair sample of it. Now, if it is an undenia- 
ble fact that mind can effect a union with the cere- 
bral structure, it is another fact, too, that by a dy- 
namic act the will without any effort can put in mo- 
tion all the voluntary muscles through the influence 
of the cerebro-spinal nerves, the will's act being not 
a physical but a dynamic act. 

How a dynamic force acts on material things. 
What is the link that chains the spirit with the 
brain structure is something beyond our compre- 
hension, but a fact. These psychico-organic phe- 
nomena give us a light how the universal mind acts 
directly on matter without any effort through the 
evolutive power that represents in the universe the 
will of the Creator. 

56 



Wibo? mbtntt? Wbm! 



As the mirror reflectively shows the image of a 
body, similarly our nature, with its trio, matter, life 
and spirit, represents the nature's trio, matter, evo- 
lution and mind in a harmonious unity. 

Man has a life that carries his organic functions 
without any annoyance to the conscious mind ; simi- 
larly in nature evolution carries on the designs of 
the universal mind without any annoyance to the 
latter, and as there is no knowledge in the conscious 
mind of the performance of functions of the organic 
life, except when they are disabled, similarly there 
is not unrest in the universal mind with the evolutive 
power on performing his designs. 

As the spirit of man is not lowered by having a 
brain as an instrumentality to his manifestations, so 
the universal mind for having the evolutive power 
as a means of its exteriorization. 

The tangible facts speaking to our mind and 
senses are that physical, vital and psychical energy 
always work together and never separate, as they 
blend harmoniously with each other, and when the 
word "I" is uttered the totality of the being goes 
with it, none of the energies being excluded ; similar 
in nature matter, evolution and mind go together 
making the totality of all existing things. 

We have said that the simple chemical elements 
through the influence of life undergo a remarkable 
change in building up the vegetable and animal 
tissues, which elements behave differently, or pos- 
sesses new properties when submitted to a living 
organization, turning into clay at life's extinction ; 
that the body of each man is a constituent part of 

57 



WibQ? Witmtt? EGtftete? 



the earth in which he lives, breathes, takes his food 
and returns it ; that having taken temporarily from 
the clay his body, which he thinks is a distinct one 
from the surrounding environment, nevertheless 
that it is one with it and exchanges continuously 
with it its elements, its independence, though ap- 
parently absolute, is only relative, and all men 
earthly brothers; similarly with the spirit derived 
from the universal mind, from which it differs in 
attributes by its hypostatic union with the brain, and 
as the flesh possesses other properties than those of 
the inorganic elements that constitute it, in the same 
manner the incarnate mind by its hypostatic union 
with the brain discloses qualities that are not inher- 
ent to the disembodied mind. 

It is said that God has created man in His own 
image, which is a truth, if we take into considera- 
tion the trio from which man is formed, viz. : mat- 
ter, life and spirit, and the trio in the universe, mat- 
ter, evolution and mind ; matter represents the stone, 
evolution the chisel and mind the planning. 

Now, as in the case of man it is observed that 
life's controlling principle never is tired in its silent 
and constant work in the conservation and reproduc- 
tion of the living organism, letting loose the mind 
to expand in other spheres as those of art, science 
and industry; similarly in the case of the universe, 
evolution like the vital energy carries on the de- 
signs of the infinite mind, creating and moving 
everything without fatigue or distraction to the gen- 
eral supervision of the. Divine mind. 



58 



WLW* Wbtntti Wfottti 



CHAPTER XIX. 

RESUME. 

In this system of nature we have the following 
points to observe : 

1. Matter and force with its affinities, attrac- 
tions, repulsions, combinations and decompositions 
subjected to fixed laws. 

2. Life energy shaping into definite living forms 
some of the inorganic elements and endowing them 
with vegetative and animal properties. 

3. Mind energy transformed in psychical power 
in the cerebral structure of man. 

Lastly, the contention of this booklet is that the 
creation is based in something preexisting, or, in 
other words, "something cannot be created from 
nothing," as the law of the substance is universal, 
the conservation of matter and energy inseparably 
connected, and ceaseless development of the sub- 
stance follows the same "eternal iron laws," we find 
God in natural law itself. "The will of God is at 
work in every falling drop of rain and every glow- 
ing crystal, in the scent of the rose and the 
spirit of man." — Haeckcl. 

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CHAPTER XX. 

SOME POINTS OF CONTROVERSY. 

1. The creation of matter from nothing is a 
matter of faith and not of reason and science. 

2. Gross materialism is opposed to the law of 
adaptation to an end in view and contrary to facts. 
From blind forces cannot originate psychic force, in 
which case the effect would be of another kind than 
its cause. 

3. The philosophical system that admits of sin- 
gle infinite potential substance from which matter, 
life and mind are derived is untenable, because the 
substance would be at the same time the designer 
and designed, which is absurd, viz. : an engineer 
designing a locomotive and at the same time turn- 
ing himself into it, would be a fair sample of that 
system. To think that energies so distinct in their 
characteristic start from an indivisible point is some- 
thing incomprehensible to us. 

4. The dualistic theory in which there are only 
two energies, "Mind and Matter," playing totally 
the phenomena of nature, or atoms provided with 
intelligence, tends to prove too much, and becomes 
the tacit admission that all is mind, and matter a 

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mind's thought. A glass in itself is not a thought, 
but the product of a thought. 

5. A reasonable system that agrees with the 
facts we observe is the one admitting that the three 
great energies acting in nature are distinct in their 
characteristic, but playing together the phenomena 
presented to us. 

We can only see the effects of the energies, but 
the energy itself is inaccessible to our senses. 

A seed apparently does not differ from a stone, 
but place the seed under the influence of soil, air, 
humidity, light and heat and the bud springs from 
it, which under such agents, never springs from the 
stone, as life is not in the latter. 

The matter idea is acquired by direct relation of 
the external senses with the bodies. The life idea 
is acquired by the mind through the perceptions of 
the impressions conveyed to the brain by the living 
beings, and that of the ordering energy by the con- 
ceit of the adaptation of the existing things to an 
end in view: Three and one. 



THE END. 



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